Thank you to Melange Books & NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. I want to state up front that I did DNF this book at the 35% mark because I found that I was not enjoying this book as I’d hoped to & that I may not be the right audience for it. 

The Other Fork in the Road is a dual POV romance that follows Madison, the socialite daughter of a wealthy hotelier family (think the Hiltons) & Jax, the small town man just wanting to pursue a simple life that he can build with a family. At the start of the book, Madison’s life implodes, leaving her confused & angry & lost as to what is next. With the help of a psychic who turns out to actually have magic powers, Madison winds up in a Christmas Carol-type situation where she wakes up in her same life but as a different version of herself. Madison & Jax are then thrown together thanks to a family wedding & close-proximity. 

What I Liked: I always love a magical realism element, in fact it’s one of the things that first drew me to the book. I also appreciate the layered family dynamics, including foster families & a strained father-daughter relationship - this always adds depth to a story & its characters. If you’re looking for a fun, light, & easy romance story with a small town setting, cowboy elements, & an opposites-attract couple, it could be worth a peek! 

But while I tried to stick through this book, I really wasn’t enjoying myself & I firmly believe that life is too short to spend time reading something that isn’t enjoyable. The largest issue that I had was the writing style - it was a bit juvenile & choppy, so I never felt like I could hit a reading flow; it felt like my brain was fumbling to take in what I was reading. I also never fully became invested in the main characters - to me, they were not relatable. There were also many instances where I felt that I was being forced to see Madison as a very unlikeable character, but I just didn’t really see her as ‘bad,’ only as a flawed human who is a lot a bit spoiled, but not a horrible person in need of an intervention. Overall, this books was just a little too chaotic & inconsistent for me & my brain that is already chaotic & inconsistent on its own; I come to Romance for escapism but this just turned out not to be the right vacation destination for me.